The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-12-03

pray, while the fever is on, and when it is off they are the same worldly persons as before. It is good deal 80 with white people. When colored camp meeting is in session at the south, the young white men are ready for fun. They respect those colored people who are really religious, but they have little respect for the young coons who go with the crowd, and all sorts of jobs are put up on the colored people. At one camp meeting in the woods of eastern Georgia the boys got coon dogs and took them into a thicket near the camp on dark night, and just as the services at the camp meeting were the most interesting, the dogs were made to bark. as though they had treed coon. There is noth- ing that will excite the colored man quite so much as to hear a coon dog bark, and it was not five minutes be- fore the crowd had left the colored minister alone with his prayer. Even the sisters followed the men towards the woods, and when the minister had got to the "Amen," he was surprised to find his congregation gone. He listened, heard a voice from the will derness, said to himself, 'Afore de Lawd, dem dawgs got coon, suah," and he took his plug hat and umbrella and started for the coon tree, on run. When the wicked white boys heard the crowd coming, they muzzled the dogs, took them in another direction, for half mile, let them bark again, and the crowd followed. This was kept up half the night, with no coon, and the next day the tired old colored preacher delivered sermon on the sinfulness of following off after strange noises in de wilderness, The camp meeting was left alone for day or two, but the boys could not hold out long, so one afternoon half dozen of the boys drove up to the camp ground with a plantation wagon loaded with watermelors. The exercises were in an interesting place, and the converted were shouting, praying and singing. Not word was said by the white boys, no discourtesy was indulged in, but with huge knife one of the boys cut melon in two and gave the two halves to. two colored men, who plunged their faces into the melon, and went into the crowd. "Whar you dun git dat?" was asked, and the mel on eaters pointed to the wagon. The crowd rushed for the wagon, and all the boys cut melons and passed them around, and ill two minutes everybody was laughing, and the old minister looked up as much as to say, Don't l get none of dis sinful trash?" when one of the white boys handed him the biggest melon of the lot, and said, "Here, uncle, don't let them get ahead of you." The old saint took the melon, broke it open on the pulpit, buried his face in the red core and said, "Brees de good Lawd," and the servi- ces were postponed. Such things are considered legitimate in the south. The white fellows enjoy seeing the darkies go from labor to refreshment that way, and the darkies never have so much religion on hand at any one time that they are not willing to shut it off for little fun. A camp meet ing in South Carolina, however, did not have as much fun as they ex- pected, over barrel of whisky, which colored brother brought to camp to sell. The crowd raided the wagon containing the barrel of whisky, all got drunk, row ensued, and several were killed, including the minister, who was trying to drink out of the bung- hole, and the camp meeting was broken up. The colored people are emotional, and full of tun. Coon dogs and watermelons are good for them, as the strain ot excitement over religion is temporarily broken, but barrel of whisky is worse than dynamite.